Palestinians bomb US convoy

Palestinian militants took their war to the Americans yesterday by launching a large bomb attack on a US embassy convoy driving through Gaza, killing three American security guards and severely wounding a diplomat.

It was the first such attack on a foreign target during the past three years of intifada, and drew a threat from Washington to "pursue the perpetrators until they are caught and brought to justice".

A source close to the Palestinian Authority, who regularly met members of the American missions to Gaza City, said the bombing was disastrous for the Palestinians.

"No one wants to widen the conflict and I can't believe even Hamas or Islamic Jihad would be stupid enough to do it," he said.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad swiftly denied responsibility for the bombing, but an umbrella organisation, the Popular Resistance Committee, which represents factions of Islamist groups and disaffected Palestinian security forces, later said it had carried out the attack.

But while Palestinian police arrested several members of the PRC, confusion arose when the group's leader, Yasser Zanoun, said the attack was against Palestinian interests.

"We can distinguish between Americans who come to Iraq as invaders and those who come to Gaza as guests," he said.

President George Bush blamed the attack on the Palestinian Authority's failure to create an effective security force. "Palestinian authorities should have acted long ago to fight terror in all its forms," Mr Bush said.

"There must be an empowered prime minister who controls all Palestinian security forces, reforms that continue to be blocked by Yasser Arafat."

Mr Arafat, the Palestinian president, denounced the attack and his authority said it would launch an investigation.

"The explosion was against the peace process and against Palestinian national interests," said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator.

The source close to the Palestinian Authority added: "I told the Americans many times that if they want to come to Gaza they should just come in a taxi.

"The things they generally come for are really unimportant, but they always come in large convoys with escorts and flashing lights so that the whole town knows they are here.

"They make it look like what they are doing is very impor tant and some people probably see it as provocative.

"The feeling here is that people are annoyed at the widening of the conflict, but there are those who see the US and Israel as the same passport."

The US government announced that the FBI would investigate the attack and advised all Americans in Gaza to leave immediately.

The blast wrecked an armoured jeep carrying a US cultural attache and other staff about a mile after they crossed into Gaza from Israel.

The US embassy in Tel Aviv said the convoy had been carrying diplomats on their way to interview Palestinian academics for Fulbright scholarships, and officials responsible for other activities, which it would not specify.

The car hit by the bomb was destroyed and tossed into the air by the blast. Two of the passengers were killed instantly and the third died after being carried from the wreckage.

The two other cars in the convoy immediately drove away at high speed.

Later, American officials from the embassy visited the scene under Israeli protection until children began throwing stones at the US officials.

The officials ran for their cars, while Palestinian and Israeli forces fired into the air.

Electrical wires found at the bomb site leading to a nearby building suggest that the explosives were manually detonated, and that the US convoy was the intended target.

The attackers would not have had difficulty identifying the convoy. US embassy officials notified the Palestinian Authority that the convoy was on its way, and embassy vehicles stand out in Gaza, not least because of their size.

Convoys of US official vehicles have become a frequent sight in Gaza as American monitors and diplomats shuttle between the Palestinian leadership and Tel Aviv.

President Bush's special envoy, John Wolf, and his CIA associates usually travel in a convoy of about five large black armoured jeeps.

The US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, said the attack would not deter American diplomatic efforts to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The United States will continue assisting the parties as they seek ways to stop the terror and to achieve peace," he said.

"This will ultimately be the most enduring response to murderers and terrorists."

But analysts in Washington said the attack was likely to accelerate the Americans' disengagement from the peace process in Israel since the collapse of the US-led road map.

"I am afraid this is going to bring about more of an acceleration of the disengagement," said Shibley Telhami, a Middle East expert at the University of Maryland.

"They have to find a public explanation for why it is they are disengaging and the easy explanation has been to say that it is all about terror and first you have to dismantle terror. This clearly plays into that explanation."